OGI At Closing: Needed—Lazy Capex, Some M&A

The conventional wisdom that has guided investors for years is that old dictum: “Sell in May and go away,” the implication being that equities usually trend sideways all summer and start to pick up in earnest in the fall, rising through the end of the year. The problem for us is, oil and gas investors went away way too early.

A lazy second half for drilling might get them to come back. Maybe some good M&A would help too.

It’s said that no E&P company should be public unless it has at least $10 billion in market cap. People want scale. But whatever a company’s size, the spreading desire—no, demand—is that producers slow down their spending pace and, by extension, cap oil and gas production growth. There is too much oil and too much gas. Not enough free cash flow.